


A Sister's Eyes

by LadyGravdian



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Canon Related, Gen, My First Fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9369089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyGravdian/pseuds/LadyGravdian
Summary: How Sara changed in those six years away from Starling. Laurel's POV.





	1. Chapter 1: Breakfast

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first fic so any comments and all forms of criticism are welcome! (I'd also like to know if you liked it.)  
> Not beta read, all mistakes are the sole fault of the author.  
> (I do not own Arrow or any related franchises.)

„Wake up sleepyhead!“  
  
Bewildered by hearing her sister’s voice Laurel jolted awake. It took her a moment to realise that it hadn’t been a dream.  
To remember that Sara was alive, here in Starling City and as of yesterday, living in the apartment’s spare bed room. Laurel climbed out of bed and as she dressed, the smell of a sadly non-existent breakfast drifted through the flat.  
  
Entering the kitchen, a flabbergasted Laurel saw that the breakfast did exist. Sara was standing next to the counter, fully dressed, messing with the forgotten waffle iron that had been mailed to her on a Christmas a while ago.  
  
“About time! I thought you’d never get up. Who would have thought that I’d beat the great early riser at her own game!” Sara teased as she plopped the last waffle on to the plate and placed it on the table in between a platter of bacon, a dish of fried eggs, a bowl of berries and a can of whipped cream. “Sit down will you, before it gets cold!” Sara urged her, and so she did.  
As she loaded up her plate, Sara put a large steaming cup of coffee next to it. While Laurel was impressed that Sara had managed to make an admittedly delicious breakfast without incident, before this whole mess neither Lance sister had been able to do anything beyond heating up food in the microwave without wrecking it or the kitchen, the situation weirded her out a little bit. So when Sara sat down she eyed her sister curiously.  
  
Sara was wearing sneakers, tight dark yoga pants, a matching tank top and a light grey running jacket zipped up halfway, sports clothes was all her sister seemed to wear these days. Her hair went a couple inches below her shoulders, longer than it had been before. Other than that she seemed like the same old Sara, but Laurel knew that wasn’t true.  
When Ollie had come back from that island, he had been different. He’d been stronger, yes, but the biggest change had been the oppressive quiet that surrounded him wherever he went and that wary look in his eye as if someone was going to attack him at any moment.  
Sara had that same silence about her, she still cracked jokes and laughed at random things, but every part of that seemed false to her, like Sara was forcing herself into being like her old self. She didn’t gush anymore instead she gave concise and meticulously worded answers that, while theoretically answering the question, were usually uninformative or just posed more questions. She rarely smiled out of her own volition and just pasted one on whenever it seemed to be expected of her and she had the same look about her as Ollie. The wary expectant eyes and the seemingly relaxed but tense body…  
  
“Like the view?” Sara interrupted Laurel thoughts. Realising that she had still been staring at her sister the entire time, she shifted her gaze to her waffles and changed the subject;  
  
“These are amazing!”  
  
“Thanks, I learned it from Nys…this cooking website. It’s really great.” And then, sometimes, that happened.  
Sara would start to mention something and then suddenly say something else. Most often the unfinished word was Nis..., and from the way Sara said it Laurel had started to think that it was a person.  
  
Once she had finished her breakfast and grabbed her work bag, Sara pushed a to-go cup into Laurel's hand and kissed her goodbye.


	2. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch and hitting the gym with her little sister shows Laurel a new side of Sara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks to all the people that have read this and a special thank you to those that left kudos! I'm still trying to find my writing style so all reactions are welcome and even the slightest positive thing makes a big difference. Please let me know what you think works, what didn't and anything I did wrong in your opinion. Thank you for reading!
> 
> Not beta read, all mistakes are my own.

“Mmm....I'd forgotten how good these tasted!” Sara said with closed eyes, dipping a French fry into her milkshake. 

They were sitting in the local Big Belly Burger eating burgers and fries coupled with their usual; black and white milkshakes. Laurel had taken the afternoon off so she could spend it with her recently undead sister. They were making small talk about the weather, base ball stats, and Laurel's work. Even though they have been living together for over two weeks now, there was still enough distance between them to make certain situations awkward. They were quite far away from their old relationship, but were making progress towards a new one.

Laurel laughed the look of childish glee on her sister's face, and then sobered when she remembered that there was a high chance that it was justified. She doubted that those psycotic assasins had left Sara much time for fun. Thankfully, Sara didn't seem to notice, so it didn't spoil the mood. Sara had finished her burger and was almost done with her fries so Laurel asked; 

"Do you want some more fries?" 

"No thank you,"she replied, elongating the vowel in no,"I've had enough trans fats and sugar for one day." This shocked Laurel almost as much as when she'd first found out that her sister was still alive. Sara saying no to more fries was something that, while rare, had happened sometimes in her teen years, but her voicing concerned about her diet was a first. She had never cared about anything like that before and Laurel had expected that Sara's time away would have made her happy to have any food she could get her hands on and not turn her into a food snob. 

"So what do you want to do once we're done here?" 

"Well I was going to hit the gym, but if you want to do something else, I'm fine with that too." 

The gym? Since when did Sarah go to the gym? She had not been to the gym in years but Laurel didn't want her sister to know that, so she said: 

"No, that's okay. Which one?" 

"Starling Fitness, it's actually pretty close. We can walk if you want if you want." 

"Yeah, okay but I'm not exactly dressed for it." 

"I've brought some stuff for both of us." Sara replied gesturing to the sports bag that rested next to her chair. That was also something new about her sister she thought ahead, anticipated problems and took steps to avoid them. 

 

:-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-) 

After they had both finished and paid for their meal, Sara grabbed her bag and both of them headed out of the restaurant and down the street. Arriving at Starling Fitness, Sara surprised Laurel by flashing what looked like a membership card and getting them in without any hassle. The employees treated Sara like a regular, so her sister must come here more often then she let on. While it was no surprise to Laurel that her sister did not spend the entire day in the apartment, she had the attention span of a 6 year old after all, she had not expected her usually lazy sister to spend so much time at fitness gym. Though of late, one could not call Sarah lazy, as she was up before Laurel on most mornings.

In the changing rooms Sara zipped open her sports bag, pulled out a few clothes and handed Laurel a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, a tank top, a sweatshirt and a pair of sneakers. While they were getting dressed Laurel noticed that her sister's outfit was a little more put together than her's. Sara was wearing black sneakers, tight black yoga pants with a dark purple stripe running up the sides with a matching sports bra and jacket. Her jacket was thinner than Laurel's and it's only function seemed to be to increase her degree of dress, rather than keep her warm.

Leaving the changing room, Sara once again surprised Laurel by heading into a part of the gym Laurel hadn't been in before. She had only done beginner weight-lifting, cardio and yoga here and that was conducted in the front of the gym complex. While she knew that there was a pool and a sauna further to the back, along with more intense/specialized exercise rooms she had never felt the compulsion to invest in the membership that was required to access that part of the fitness center.

Sara lead her to a room with more basic work out equipment, that still managed to impress Laurel slightly. Perhaps it was the fact that the only other people in the room were a few very mean looking and very musclely guys that all looked as if they could break her arm without a second thought. Sara didn't seem bothered by them a started to jog around the mats that occupied the middle of the room, motioning for Laurel to follow her. They spent five minutes jogging like that, which made Laurel grateful that she had been getting back into her sports routine after her most recent kidnapping, otherwise she would have been completely out of breath. Then her sister started jumping-jacks, which looked absolutely ridiculous in their current situation, and laurel hesitantly followed suit. Then her sister went into what was clearly a conditioning routine. Laurel's endurance paled in comparison to Sara's and she was glad that her sister had drifted into what seemed like her own little world so Laurel could skip out on a few of the push-ups, sit-ups and burpees. She stopped counting her sister's reps after hitting 85 each time. When did her sister become so fit? There was no way that Sara couldn't have gained some muscle during the time she was gone, but the way she acted in this room spoke of a familiarity. She probably just spent a lot of time here.

After what Sara called a warm-up, Laurel called it exhausting, she headed over to a weird looking apparatus. It looked like two vertical poles that had been squashed into a rectangular shape with shorter poles coming off the side facing the wall. 

“What's that?”Laurel asked bewildered.

“It's called a salmon ladder, Laurel. It's super fun!” Sara answered excitedly. Since when was Sara so excited about a work out? Laurel had never seen anything like this contraption in her entire life and seriously hoped that Sara didn't expect her to use it.

“I've no idea what to do with this. Why don't you go ahead while I use those weights over there?”

“Okay.” Sara really didn't seem to mind. She went over to the salmon ladder and grabbed the bar that sat on the lowest rungs. She then proceeded to do ten chin-ups and then started swinging herself up with each upwards motion, jumping up a rung each time. Laurel was mesmerized and worried at the same time. This physicality was something completely new about her sister and she was glad Sara was letting her in, but she was also worried about how Sara had acquired it. What had happened that sara had needed such strength and stamina? And how was it that even now when she was home and safe Sara felt the need to keep it up? How had her somewhat lazy, cute little sister become such a strong and secretive woman? Laurel had been having these thoughts a lot lately, but she really didn't want to push Sara away again so she didn't pry.

By the end of the day Laurel was absolutely exhausted, while Sara only seemed rejuvenated by what she called “their little gym session”. Sara had shown an incredible strength and stamina and done over four times the work that Laurel had. One thing was clear this was not the same Sara.


	3. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara has made Laurel dinner, among other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry it took so long been drawn in by other projects, but I will finish this before I get overly involved with other stuff. Hope you enjoy!  
> Any kind of feedback is welcome. All mistakes are my own

When Laurel got home that evening she was in for quite a shock. As she placed her keys on the stand next to the door, her gaze fell onto the shoe shelves in the entrance way. They were clean and organized, the exact opposite of how their usual messy jumble. Turning around she finds the shelves dusted, the carpet vacuumed and someone has clearly been watering the plants, as they are no longer wilting. She takes off her shoes and jacket, putting them away with far more care than she usually does. Slightly disconcerted, she entered the living room to find that it to, was spotless. The carpeting had been vacuumed, the usual mess of papers and magazines on the coffee table was gone and somehow the old wine stain next to the sofa had also disappeared.

A thought suddenly hit her and she sprinted the few yards to her office. Here to the organized mess of papers, binders and law books had been tidied up. Distressed at the thought of having to reorganize everything Laurel opened her filing cabinet.

The panic she had felt when seeing the neat foreign sets of files subsided after she realized that they were more organized and easy to find than they had ever been. They were sorted by case with separate folders for overreaching stuff and an evidence section in each case file. Looking around the room in a less panicked manner she saw that everything was neat and logically placed. Someone had done a wonderful job.

The phone rang.

“Hello, Laurel Lance.”

“Hey,Laur I just wanted to check in before I'm officially on the clock. You get home okay?”

Since when did her sister make check up calls?Never mind time to ask the burning question. “Yeah, fine. Sara I wanted to ask about the apartm...”

“The apartment? That was me. I just couldn't take the chaos anymore. I hope you don't mind. I left your room alone by the way.”

“It's okay Sara. Do you need me to come pick you up after work?”

“Nah. I'll just walk it isn't that far.”

It was 4.8 miles to be exact and through the Glades. Laurel wouldn't have attempted that walk during daylight hours, much less at 4 o'clock in the morning. She voiced her concern.

“I'll be fine Laurel. I can take care of my self, plus The Canary watches out for girls like me. I left some dinner in the fridge for you. I know how you barely eat when you're working so I thought I'd get rid of your excuse. I assume you can safely operate a microwave.”

“Okay,.... Thanks Sara. See you tomorrow, goodnight!”

“Good night, sis.”

That last comment took Laurel for a loop. Sara hadn't called her “sis” since they'd been 11.

*******  
Entering her room after a very relaxing shower in an incredibly neat bathroom she found two baskets of neatly folded laundry on her bed. While she appreciated what Sara had done, she still found it odd. She had noticed that her sister's room was meticulously clean, she had just chalked it up to a lack of possessions to create a mess. This constant cleanliness was something she was as unused to from her sister as her sudden concern for Laurel's health. Sara had never been downright mean (other than that whole 2007 debacle), but she had always been a little self-centered and had never cared about anyone's health. This new version of Sara never failed to surprise Laurel in any way, she just hoped that whatever had brought about this change in her little sister hadn't been to terrible.

Taking the re-heated dinner to her office she set to work, still wondering about Sara.


	4. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long guys! Exam season started a while back so I was super busy. Now I'm sick, but lucky for you that means I have had time to write today. I hope you enjoy!

“Dad, have you been noticing anything different about Sara?” Laurel asked, placing her coffee cup on the cafe table.

“You mean besides the fact that she speaks Chinese?”, her father replied jokingly, leaning back into his chair.

Sara spoke Chinese?? Sara had taken Spanish for ten years and had barely been able to fom a sentence! Now she suddenly spoke Chinese?!

Noticing how concerned she was Quentin's expression turned thoughtful.

“She's been through a lot Laurel. WE barely have any idea of what happened in those six years. All I know I got from Queen when I had him explain why he told us that Sara was dead.”

“Wait. What did he tell you.”

“That She spent the first year on a boat with a doctor that did some shady stuff and then she only spent three months on the island with him before another maritime explosion separated them for good. Some time after that she had to have fallen in with those psychopaths that poisoned you.”

Why had no one ever told her this? It seemed like everyone knew more than she did!

“We have never been through anything like what Sara has. It makes sense that she is a bit withdrawn.”

“But that's the thing, she isn't!” Laurel burst out. “When she's there she's engaged, bubbly and all smiles all the time. She's changed in other ways. She cooks, she cleans, she gets up early every morning no matter how long her shift went. When I wake up she has already showered and made breakfast. And when we went to the gym last week she barely broke a sweat! She talks to everyone we meet as if she's known them her entire life. She remembers birthdays and sends out get well cards to our old neighbors.”

“So she is settling in? That's good, that's good. I'm glad.”

“What are you talking about dad?” Was there yet another thing she didn't know?

“Oh nothing. She was just a bit jumpy when she first got back and about her cooking? She is just trying to be helpful, same with the cleaning. You are letting her live with you after all, she is just being considerate.”

Laurel decided to leave it be and changed the subject.

:-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-):-(:-) 

When Laurel got home that night she went into he sister's room to say good night. She quietly made her way through her sister's impeccably neat room. When she got to the bed she leaned down to peck her sister's forehead, she suddenly found herself on her back with the cold of a metal blade pressed against the skin of her neck. Then it was gone.

“Oh, Laurel I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was you.” Sara said, clearly distressed.

Laurel shook her head trying to organize her thoughts. Having a knife held to your throat by your own sister tends to throw you for a loop. Also how had Sara not realized it was Laurel? Who else would have come in? Laurel was the only other person with keys after all. Looking at her clearly distressed sister, she assured Sara that she was fine. It took another ten minutes to calm them both down and get out of Sara's room.

Laurel put on her pajamas and slipped into bed. The last thing she thought was “Just a bit jumpy, huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me!


End file.
